and raising five children has apparently helped her to this day as speaker of the house dealing with her caucus and perhaps dealing with one other person, as well. who might be just a tad bit child-like. i don't know. that does it for us this morning. stephanie rhule picks up coverage right now. >> thanks so much, mika. mother of five, ending with love, i want to stay on that conversation, but i cannot. because i have got to begin this morning with breaking news. starting with the "art of the deal." nbc news has learned sources close to president trump anticipate that he will sign the bipartisan agreement to avoid a shutdown despite pouring cold water on it yesterday. >> i am extremely unhappy with what the democrats have given us. but we certainly don't want to see a shutdown. >> but while it points to him signing it, it seems more and more likely he will take outside action to get his wall even though he claims the wall is

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already being built. that's a lie. and an nbc news exclusive report the senate intel committee has found no direct evidence of conspiracy between the trump campaign and russia during the 2016 election, but the president, he may not be in the clear. his former campaign chair set to appear in court this afternoon. you know what i'm talking about, paul manafort as the special counsel reportedly zeros in on a specific meeting between manafort and a russian operative. and less money, mo problems, the national debt tops $22 trillion. for the first time ever. that is a 22 followed by 12 zeros. remember when he said he was going to wipe out the debt? well, deficits are going at a more rapid pace following the republican tax cut one year ago. do you remember when conservatives were worried about debt and deficits? do. remember who is really worried about them? mick mulvaney. we begin with breaking news.

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we learned in the past hour that president trump is expected to sign the border security deal that is despite the fact no one be sure exactly what's in it. the president also pushing the idea that the deal does not really matter anyway. he's got other ways to get the pone for the wall. i have a great team to explain all of it. first i want to break this down. even if he ends up signing it which looks likely, the president, he doesn't like the deal. it got less than a quarter of the amount of money he amounted for barriers. remember this, for barriers. no money for wall. conservatives like laura ingraham and sean hannity, they hate it. here's what the president said. >> i can't say i'm happy but the wall is getting built regardless. we're doing other things beyond what we're talking about here. >> however, he also said that he did not anticipate another government shutdown, which fits with nbc's reporting that he "is

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likely to give the deal the green light," but nothing is set in stone. once lawmakers started to actually write the bill, they found budget issues still unresolved. those reportedly include disagreements on language dealing with how the president can access and use the money. if you listen to the republicans who came out and spoke yesterday, all of them, including the president, they made one thing clear. they do not believe that this deal is the final word on the wall. >> i hope he signs the bill and second, i think he ought to feel free to use whatever tools he can legally use to enhance its effort to the secure the boarder. >> it's not the high number we would have liked but the president still has a few more tools in his toolbox. >> ultimately i expect him to sign it and keep the government open as a vehicle. if he does that, in certainly executive action should be his next course of action. >> the idea the president can

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grab money from other projects and use it for the wall, this is not new. over the last two months, they've talked about getting money from flood control projects, disaster relief or military funding. now they might be moving even closer to doing it. kristen welker is live at the white house. garrett haake on the hill. kristin, what can you tell us about president trump's next step? >> reporter: according to multiple sources familiar with the president's thinking, it is anticipated he will sign that bipartisan deal to avert a second government shutdown. that does come after the drama playing out over the past 24 hours. you mapped it out very well, the fact that the president said he's not happy with the deal, at the same time, he doesn't want to see another government shutdown. it's also expected he is going to try to get funds from pre-existing resources and redirect them to build portions of his wall. essentially declaring an

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executive action. it remains to be seen whether he would declare a national emergency as part of that. he seemed to back away from that prospect yesterday, steph. we had a chance to asks sarah huckabee sanders about all of this. listen to what she had to say moments ago. >> we want to see what the final piece of legislation looks like. it's hard to say whether or not is the president is going to sign it till we know everything in it. unlike nancy pelosi, we like to read legislation before we agree to it. the president isn't fully happy as he said yesterday with everything that's in the legislation. but there are some positive pieces of it, but one way or the other and one thing you can be sure of is at the end of the day, the president is going to build the wall. he said he was going to get it done and he will. >> sarah sanders not saying definitively the president will sign it. the president tweeting he was reviewing the legislation overnight. and really signaling he doesn't have the appetite for a second

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shut down. steph, we have to add this caveat with all our reporting. it's not done you be till it's done. this president has been a wildcard in the past. >> indeed he has. sarah sanders, i'm not sure what he's talking about nancy pelosi doesn't actually read bills. hmm. garrett, what are you hearing about potential last-minute snags on the congressional side? >> reporter: the issues now are just in the actual process of turning this framework agreement into al actual piece of legislationing into an actual bill. i talked to one source on the committee who said there are some hangups about the language. they want to be very speccing about things like fencing and walls, how bed space is used. we've been talking a lot about that sort of thing over the last few days. sources i've been talking to including one democrat and one republican on the committee are cautiousing this is not in danger of falling apart at this point. it's the tripping up that tends to happen when dealing with complicated legislation. both sources seed optimistic that is the kind of thing that

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cog get voted on maybe as early as today potentially in the house, maybe thursday in the senate to give the president and everyone else time to review this. just a reality check here. if this bill ends up being close to 1,000 pages, nobody's going to read the whole thing. it's based on other pieces of legislation in the works for a very long time. but we can set that aside here. it's not like any of these lawmakers will pull an all nighter to get through this thing. there are still voices cautioning the president against going with this deal. that's a cause for concern for people who want it passed. here was mark meadows on fox news. >> let me stress this, brian. no one's seen the deal. they were still negotiating it last night. democrats were trying to add things to this deal last night, and nobody's seen the text. not even the conferrees have seen it. at this point, if we're going to vote on a 1,000-page plus bill today, i want to read it before i vote on it.

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i would encourage the president to look at a continuing resolution and would help him to do that. >> mark meadows low on my list of people who will support any bipartisan piece of legislation but his cautioning should be noted because as kristin said, nothing is final particularly with this president till the in kp is on that signature line. >> we know that to be true. thank you both. i want to bring the panel in,ia michal sin door, good morning. grace raleigh, for spectrum news, bill cohen, "vanity fair," and bret stephens an and ed columnist for the "new york times". ya meech, from what you have heard, is there still a question whether or not the president is going to sign this thing? they're already talking about additional money from elsewhere. >> i've been talking to white house sources all morning. they're reiterating the president has not decided whether he's going to sign this bill and cautioning anybody who is saying he will saying that's

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not where we are yet. the president is really the wildcard here. it's likely he's going to sign it and people around him think that because he doesn't want another shutdown and because he has looked at other pots of money to get funding for the wall, he wants to move forward on that. it's one of those things where the president wants to look like a winner and keep that image that he's the person who is the architect of the art of the deal. as a result, the president is weighing whether or not he should listen to sean hannity and laura ingraham and lew doves who called the deal pathetic and an insult or whether he can side with his own republican party and republicans on the hill who say we cannot afford another shutdown. >> yes, but i watched laura ingraham and she's already trying to make the argument that border fencing they've agreed to pay for is a wall. eh, it's not. they also continue to push this argument that the president has made that he is already building a wall, also incorrect. bill, if the president could get

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the money from elsewhere, you know, pull postz money from other sources, why didn't he do that already? >> look, you know, fub me for this, stephanie. maybe this is sacrilege. it's brilliant political theater he's engaging in. >> for sure. >> this is part of his 2020 re-election campaign of tacking to the center now. i think you saw it in the state of the union address where he almost seemed like a normal human being part of the time. now he's saying look, i don't want a government shutdown. i'm going to sign this thing even though those crazy democrats. i can't deal with them. they're nuts. i tried to do what i could and i'm doing the best i can so the government stays open. this is step two in a long series of events that is going to show he's tacking to the political center as part of his effort to get re-elected. >> wow. he had jared and ivanka sitting behind me. an the state of the union, he had alice johnson there.

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he's talking criminal justice reform. i want to play yesterday part of what he said about where the additional money could come from. >> i'm not happy but am i happy with where we're going? i'm thrilled because we're supplementing things and moving things around and we're doing things that are fantastic. and taking from far less really from far less important areas. >> far less important areas including flood control projects and disaster relief. what do you think? >> look, even if he got all the money he claims he can get, it's going to be a pittance we're talking about probably under $1 billion and bear in mind that just about a year ago, he could have had $25 billion for border security. he turned that down. then it went down to what it is, $1.5 billion, $1.3 billion. maybe he'll be able to supplement it. it's not even clear that's legal what he's doing. up to $2 billion. but the idea that this is going

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to create any kind of substantial border fencing that meets the demands of the laura ingrahams of the world is a joke. maybe this is tacking towards the center. but the american people can add. the american people can see first of all, even if they agree with the need for a wall which most people don't which is that the size of this thing keeps getting smaller and smaller. we're going from the trump tower to the trump house in queens circa 1937 is what we're getting. > we do have to remind our audience even if he got the $5.7 billion, that pales in comparison to the amount of money you would need to build a complete border wall. >> $58 billion is what it takes tox build a modern destroyer maybe two in the united states navy just to put it in perspective. this is not a major construction. >> to say the american people can add, i'm not trying to insult the american people, can they in the president with kirstjen nielsen had a plastic with his name on it put on a

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piece of border fencing that was corrective fencing that obama funded. there he is, here's my wall. do you think the american people can add in a way that will hold him to account. >> a sucker is born every minute. i don't think we have so many in this country. >> there was never going to be a wall. this is the best he was ever going to get. >> exactly to this point. americans know better. what if you're an american who says wait a minute, they're going to reallocate money? what if they're reallocating from it from my district or state? does that pose a political problem for the president? >> i think it does. he needs to make the case that border security is a serious crisis on par with natural disasters with flood relief, with areas that are in desperate need of cash from the federal government. >> the state of louisiana, suddenly money against flood protecting where they're losing land every day, suddenly you're going to start to say i'm not so keen on that wall. >> that's the problem.

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that's why he tried to make the border wall funding a key part of the last government shutdown because he thought he was ultimately going to win and then there would be a clean allocation of money. he wouldn't be taking money away from some specific other purpose. that's the area he's going to be wading in now. as you've got the 2020 field growing by the day, all those candidates will be pouncing on this finding people whose homes are in need of help, clear examples of americans desperate for the money from the government. and they're going to say how is this person not in need of this money? why should it go to a border wall. >> the lindsey grahams of the world and mitch mcconnells are mr. president, sign this now. you can find it the other money from other places and they'll worry about that problem when it comes? >> i think there's that idea that could happen. i've interviewed a lot of trump supporters. i specifically am thinking about a couple in a place called

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masury, ohio, in i can named misery. they made $9,000 a year. there was going to be a hud program. they needed to repair their roof and they were trump supports are. they were if they took away the money as long as mexicans didn't get in over the border. their town is not overly populated by immigrants and it was a majority white area. they were willing to sacrifice their own personal roof, their own personal safety for this idea of a wall. we should not underestimate the idea that this president has created and ginned up this idea there's a crisis on the border and that there are at least a fraction of the population that will follow him to that. it's important to note that the president can say in some issue that this debate is happening on the terms that he wanted because at one point, the white house was saying the president is going to compromise and change the materials of the wall, he's going to do steel instead of

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concrete. democrats said that's ridiculous, that's not a compromise. at tend of the day, he's gettin some funding for the wall. he can stand up and say i got this for you. >> goodness gracious. well, all eyes are going to be on the president and his pen coming this friday. up next, paul manafort's case due back in court this afternoon. this as an exclusive nbc news report reveals that the senate intel committee has found in direct evidence of a conspiracy between the trump campaign and russia. but does that mean the president is in the clear? we know mr. manafort is not. before we go, there was a lot of back and forth about the size of the crowd again? at president trump's rally in el paso on monday night. at least a lot of back and forth from the trump team and seth meyers, he saw that as an even bigger problem. >> president trump said yesterday the 69,000 people had signed up to attend his rally in el paso but that only 10,000 people were allowed inside

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before later claiming 35,000 people attended while law enforcement said only 6500 were inside the arena. so yeah, we do need to see his tax returns. we do need to see s tax returns. the fact is, americans move more than anyone else in the world. on average, we'll live in eleven homes. and every time we move, things change. apartments become houses, cars become mini vans. as we upgrade and downsize, an allstate agent will do the same for our protection. now that you know the truth, are you in good hands? come hok., babe. nasty nightime heartburn? try alka-seltzer pm gummies. the only fast, powerful heartburn relief, plus melatonin so you can fall asleep quickly. oh, what a relief it is! with its historical records... ancestry's dna test ...you could learn you're from ireland...

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welcome back. i'm stephanie rhule. democrats and republicans on the senate intel committee are telling nbc news they're nearing the finish line in their investigation in the 2016 presidential election, and have uncovered no direct evidence of

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a conspiracy between the trump campaign and russia. >> i'm not sure how to put it any clearer than i said it before. we have no factual evidence of collusion between the campaign and russia. >> joining me now elliott williams, full disclosure. he now lobbies for law works which is an organization advocate forth importance of the special counsel and making sure the findings are made public. my panel, bill and brett and i want to bring in nbc news intelligence and national security reporter and my dear friend kennedy lalian. ken, this is your reporting. what have you uncovered? >> when richard burr told cbs news last week they had uncovered no evidence of collusion after two years, i wondered what do the democrats say about that? >> i started to check in with my democratic sources who often are reluctant to talk about the details of the confidential

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investigation. they told me a lot of things where they disagreed but on the fundamental question is there direct evidence of the kind of conspiracy laid out in the dossier that has trump in league with the russians a corrupt pact,they don't have evidence of that. they have a lot of other evidence. it's in plain sight to many eyes of what some people would call collusion, but you know, the american public has already taken that evidence on board. people were hoping or some people were thinking there must be something else behind the scenes, there must be this evidence that ties trump more directly to this. my sources are telling me that doesn't exist. >> heiot, your reaction to this new reporting? >> again, same thing. you know, there's clearly a split between the chair of the committee richard burr and mark warner and with the house intelligence committee. i think everybody needs to slow down and wait for the special counsel to finish its

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investigation. obviously, you know, there's a quote in ken's article that people are expecting the e-mail that says hey, vlad, let's get together to talk about how we can include. that's not how conspiracy cases are formed. obviously the special counsel has been at this for a long time. there's also the bigger question even if you can't charge a conspiracy, is this conduct that a president of the united states or a candidate for the presidency should have been engaging in and the proper exercise of judgment and that all come out. but i think everybody needs to take a deep breath and just wait and see what the findings are. >> i think that's a really important point because donald trump has created an atmosphere in which unless he's dragged off in handcuffs he wins. that's not the standard to which we should hold the president of the united states. it's possible there was a lot of wrongdoing, a lot of negligence, the trump campaign allowed itself to be manipulated by a foreign intelligence operation. it doesn't rise to the level of a crime. robert mueller knows more than

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the senate knows. he will make the final judgment. >> i think there's something here which is the money trail. okay? you know, they're not talking about richard burr is not talking about the money trail. i'm convinced that's going to be the achilles heel for donald trump is the russian money or the money funneled from russia through deutsche bank to donald trump. there's going to be something related to the fact that the russians were the only ones who would provide donald trump the money he needs for his business empire. >> president trump is reacting with a tweet, "the senate intelligence committee, there is no evidence of collusion between the trump campaign and russia." >> well, listen, accurate ticks of the president including me have always had to be prepared for the possibility that there was no collusion, that there was suspicious activity that, there was improper activity, but the kind of smoking gun sort of watergate style 1 minutes of missing tape that we were expecting wasn't going to

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happen. that's why it was so important to let the special counsel finish his work. one of the reasons why i think so many of us have been so suspicious is because the president has been clearly fantasizing about firing the special counsel, shutting down the probe, appointing an acting attorney general who also is hostile to the probe and, of course, other bizarre activity like seizing the notes from his translator during his meetings with vladimir putin, something unprecedented in presidential history. >> we have to remember the senate intel committee has not spokenton flynn, manafort, and rick gates. they don't have the full picture but "the washington post" is reporting in august, 2nd, 2016, there was a meeting at a manhattan cigar bar between manafort, rick gates and kilimnik, the russian political operative. and it goes to the heart of the mueller probe. they write this. "it was at that meeting that prosecutors believe manafort and kilimnik may have exchanged key

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information relevant to russia and trump's presidential bid." what does that tell you about the potential direction the mueller investigation is going in? elliott. >> you know how you hear about shady deals are cut in smoke-filled rooms? this was literally a smoke-filled room in a cigar bar. all of this is circumstantial evidence, what prosecutors call circumstantial evidence of an intent to violate the law. even considering the fact that they left through separate exits is the kind of thing that prosecutors would look at. obviously, that's not -- there's no one smoking gun but given what we know about the sophisticated efforts of russians to infiltrate and take e-mails what we know about the attempts to soften the united states' position on russia and on down, this is certainly a troubling meeting and certainly of great interest to prosecutors. so once again, it gets back to this question we should just wait for the special counsel to finish the special counsel's work before being so quick to dismiss there isn't that one e-mail from donald trump to his

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friend vladimir or whatever else. that's often not how conspiracy cases are built. we're just not there yet. >> one important point that needs to be made here, which is that irrespective of what trump knew. >> you just set a really high bar for yourself right there. >> irrespective of trump's behavior what, we do know is that his campaign was studded with figures who were susceptible to russian blackmail. it -- if paul manafort's business dealings in ukraine had not been exposed by "the new york times" in the summer of 2016, it's quite conceivable that he and guys like gates, even papadopoulos, would go having occupied positions of trust within the administration and those are the sorts of positions that might have been compromised by russian intelligence because they knew they had skeletons in their closet, all of which the special counsel has investigated and uncovered. >> manafort hear hearing today. i'm guessing no ostrich feather coat. maybe a bit more gray hair.

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he was talking about the go out these days. what are we going to see? >> it's a sealed hearing. the reason the meeting at the cigar bar is also very important, prosecutors accuse manafort of lying about it. that was the subject of the sealed hearing. today the judge may make a ruling as to whether she finds that manafort has lied sufficient to void his plea agreement. it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that's the way she's going to rule. we may not find out the results of today's hearing but he's facing a decade or more in prison. >> bill, you mentioned follow the money and the money trail. axios is reporting this morning that house democrats want to do just that, they want to launch more new investigations with a heavy focus on money laundering that will include multiple committees and dramatic public hearings that could last into 2020. do you think that's a good idea. >> this is exactly the right thing to do. >> you don't think that the american people could say this is overreach. we're tired of it, you're

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obstructionists? >> no, because we have a guy who has not relinquished his business interests and does a lot of things to further his interests while president. he hasn't released his tax returns. we don't really have any idea where his financial relationships are. we know deutsche bank is the only bank that will do business with him, probably with the help of russian money. it's very posh abhealthy and right for the democrats to have these hearings so we can find these things out. >> my goodness. well, i'm going to car a lot about that hearing today. up next, new numbers from the treasury department show that the national debt has surpassed $22 trillion with a "t" dollars. up by $30 billion in the last month alone. money, power, politics is next. i want to you see this. michelle obama, you know this i talked about it on monday. she made a surprise appearance at grammys on sunday. she revealed on instagram it even came as a surprise to her own mother. check out the texts.

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michelle obama she's just like us. mom, i guess you were a hit at the grammys. >> michelle, i'm sitting here with valerie and this text is so typically you. did you watch? >> i saw it because gracy called me. did you meet any of the real stars or did you run out after you were done? michelle, i told you i was going to be on it. >> no, you did not. even though i don't remember much. >> i thought i told you and i'm a real star. >> mom, yeah. first lady obama, we all have those relationships with our moms. you are just like us i guess. moms you are just like us i guess at fidelity, we help you prepare for the unexpected

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time for money, power, politics. a new record just set during the trump administration. but it is one the president is oddly not boasting about. the national debt has now topped 22 trillion with a "t" dollars for the very first time up from 19.95 trillion when he first took office in january of 2017. what's more, the debt figure has been accelerating since the passage of the president's $1.5 trillion tax cut in december of 2017. i want to bring in axios chief financial correspondent and author of the axios edge

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newsletter felix salmon and bill cohen still in the house. felix, trump administration insyss that the tax cut will eventually pay for itself by generating faster economic growth and we know it takes time for that to happen. but why aren't we seeing it yet? >> because it's not going to happen. no one believed that. no one believes it now. >> republicans did. >> and we have seen actually that national debt increasing much faster than even the pessimists thought it would when the tax cut was passed. there's no -- also if you look at corporate earnings, they've been slowing down massively. people are expecting in this quarter earnings will be negative compared to last year. all of this amazing new growth we were promised from the tax cuts isn't happening. it's like a single one-shot sugar high which increases the debt in perpetuity without giving us anything sustainable. >> let's be moons honest for a second. people say they care about the debt, they care about deficits. do they really? if i said the number was 19

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trillion or a gazillion or a bajillion, would it matter to people when they will go home at night, people not political enthusiasts? >> literally no one understands how big a trillion dollars is. it's such an insanely enormous amount of money it is not possible for the human brain to comprehend it. once you get up to 22 trillion, like it's almost meaningless. you're right. it's very hard for anyone to understand what that means. >> okay, bill. the congressional budget office and this is what blows my mind, this is the house of mick mulvaney who back in the day of the freedom caucus railed against things like this. they're saying it will keep rising topping $1 trillion annually in 2022. do you see any evidence that the tax cuts will pay for themselves? >> there's certainly no evidence yet. i frankly, i agree with felix. i think going back to your opening where you said this was

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a president who a candidate who said he was going to eliminate the national debt and in fact, he's done pretty much just the opposite going from 19 to $22 trillion in record time, trillion dollar budget deficits. that's not the only debt. we are a country awash in debt. we've got a former bond trader yourself, we've got 9 trillion of corporate debt. okay? we've got trillions in student loans. we've got trillions in credit card debt. trillions in auto loans. we've got so much debt we are awash in, that this is bound to cause a serious problem in the near term. >> we talk about the importance of entitlement reform in an abstract way. when it comes to actually touching social security, there are a few lawmakers with the political will to do so. now that we see more and more baby boomers retiring, how much bigger is this problem going to get. >> is that playing a role here?

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>> well, contingent liability of entitlements. >> contingent liabilities. we make it sexy. >> the amount of money that the government is going to have to pay in future decades in medicare and medicaid and social security is much bigger than that that 22 trillion. the real debt is unimaginably huge. no one has a plan for how to deal with it, least of all the current administration. >> the elizabeth warrens of the world are saying what we need to do is hike up taxes for the ultrawealthy. do you think these numbers help fuel that? >> no, i don't because i don't think people as you were saying whether it's $19 trillion for 19 gazillion, it's not real for people. we're the 13th most indebted country on the earth. >> president trump, if he knows one thing, he knows debt. >> he knows how to bankrupt

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companies. this is all populism what the left feels is important right now to try to you know, stoke up their base and what better way than to say let's soak the billionaires. >> in terms of the tax hikes, the big tax hike on wealth or on $10 million incomes, that would improve inequality but it would be the make a dent in the debt. >> guess what, improving inequality, i'll take a little bit of that. >> by the way, one other thing, if you look at new york state, what governor cuomo says revenues are down $4.8 billion in part because of the trump tax bill which hurts new york state taxpayers. >> yes, but maybe we should take a closer look at all the loopholes. it is true, the richest of the rich they've all turned themselves into llcs and now paying 21%. >> in florida, wherever they are and trump is among them by the way. >> this morning, vice president mike pence is you be leashing from fresh criticism toward elon

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omar. in a brand-new interview, is he reiterating the president's call for her to step down after her tweets about apac were criticized as being semiticing. > anti-semitism has no place in the united states congress or anywhere in our country or the free world. unless representative omar resigns from congress at minimum democrat leaders should remove her from the house foreign affairs committee. >> msnbc's garrett haake joins me on the hill. the congresswoman issued an apology. we saw leadership in the democratic party condemn her in a pretty aggressive way. republicans don't want to let this thing go. but it's curious given all that they said in the past. >> reporter: yeah, this is an opportunity for republicans to reflect back some of the criticism they've received over the last two years especially given the rhetoric of this president and they have kept omar in the spotlight. despite this apology. no one expected, i don't think

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anyone paying attention would expect republicans to let this go simply because she apologized. the completeness of her apology probably innoculates her from criticism from her democratic colleagues. since that interview took place, the congresswoman has responded although not to the vice president. she went over his head and responded to president trump who called for her to resign yesterday with a tweet in which she writes hi it, real donald trump. you've tracked in hate your whole life against jews, muslims, blank people and more. i learned from people impacted by my words. when will you? i think that's the part of the defense here for congresswoman omar. as long as the president continues to stumble into these indelicate moments in which he says things perceived as racist, sexist or against any minority group, it's tough for republicans to call for democrats to resign over doing something that appears the same.

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>> garrett, thank you so much. catch nor of andrea mitchell's interview with mike pence at noon. an democratic candidates keep looking for ways to separate themselves from the pack. cory booker says a woman would be his first choice as vp as klobuchar announces a big hall in her first day of fund-raising. meanwhile, howard schultz says he should be paying more in taxes. schultz says he should be paying more in taxes. egrets. and i don't add up the years. but what i do count on... is boost® delicious boost® high protein nutritional drink has 20 grams of protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals. boost® high protein. be up for life.

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when it comes to the race for 2020, presidential candidate cory booker revealing what he's going to be looking for in a running mate. >> if you got the nomination, would you commit to choosing a woman as your vice presidential running mate? >> i think it would be malpractice. we clearly should -- i believe there should be a woman president right now and have worked hard to get one. we have such a great feed of leaders. you will rarely see a democratic ticket without gender diversity. i'm not going to box myself in, but should i become -- i'll be looking to women first. >> grace, brett and bill back with me. grace, does booker have a point? do you think the country has reaped a place where we're seeing race or gender diversity on the presidential ticket from now on? while he says that on any given night, i can turn on tucker carlson and he'll tell me there's a war on men in this country. >> well, i do think when it comes to democrats that's going to be a big part of the conversation especially given

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the number of women who are running for this office. but at the same time, i'm sure you've had these conversations too with political people. there is a fear among some in the democratic party that a woman cannot win against donald trump. and cannot win the white house. this is a conversation that many people are having. and so that question hangs over the democratic field right now. so i think for male candidates, not just cory booker but any of them, they have to answer for why not a woman at this particular moment in time. at the same time, i think there are some concerns among some of the democratic party whether a woman can win especially against this president. >> i want to talk about howard schultz for a moment. he was part of another town hall last night. he's been hit for being vague on answers around things like race and tax reform and where that doesn't make sense, criticism when you look at someone who is super wealthy who runs is are they going to be empathetic and

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understand the plight of others, are they out of touch. i want to share what he said. >> we had a problem. and it's a problem that i think exists can widely in this country and it's something that i would characterize as unconscious bias. as somebody who grew up in a very diverse background as a young boy in the projects, i didn't ceclor as a young boy. and i honestly don't ceclor now. i should be paying more taxes. and people who are in the bracket of making millions of dollars or whatever the number might be should be paying more taxes. i don't know what the number is. i think what i'm saying is we need comprehensive tax reform. >> how long can he give these vague answers? he hasn't officially announced his candidacy, but i don't know that it's a positive to say i can't ceclor. race is an issue. >> of course it's an issue. i don't think howard schultz candidacy is particularly interesting from an electoral point of view. it's interesting what it means as a signal to the democratic

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party that many centrist liberals feel that the party is moving too far to the left. and going back to what we were discussing earlier. the question of does the ticket have to having racial diversity or gender diversity. of course, it's wonderful if it does. but if that starts becoming a litmus test, it is going to hurt the democrats because it's going to mean they remain a party of i'dedty arians. that didn't help the last time when a party starts breaking up the country into different kinds of segments. i don't think it's going to help it right now. the democratic party has to start sounding a lot more centrist than this early field of candidates makes it seem. >> bill, according to politico, mike bloomberg is preparing to spend at least 500 million bucks of his own money to deny trump a second term. what do you make of this strategy? >> great. i mean, i think the more people who are trying very hard to deny donald trump a second term is great for america. >> you think it means he's

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running? >> i have my doubts now. i know a lot of people are saying that he will. and the betting is that he will. but he's also a very and he may say to himself i can spend this money and have more impact by not running than running because i think he is going to quickly realize one again he probably cannot win the democratic nomination. >> i'm going to say something quickly. earlier today i was on the hugh hewitt show. both of us know mike very well. hugh asked me would i be open to being mike bloomberg's press secretary. i jokingly said i'm open to anything. i see headlines now. that's absurd. as a private citizen, if any president called me far meeting on any job, i would take that meeting. hugh hewitt, shame on you. mitch mcconnell saying he wants to maybe have a vote on the senate floor. is this his attempt to put

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democrats on the senate floor? >> it is. he wants to get democrats counted on where they come down. here hearing schultz and bloomberg saying this is not a realistic approach to dealing with the environment. even from bloomberg who has made it a key issue he's put a lot of his own money into. he's trying to put democrats on notice. i'm not sure this is going to work out in his favor, especially given the level of concern and especially when you look at the generational divide in this country. young people are very concerned about what's happening with the environment. it's an issue they want to see their politicians tackling. i don't think they're that concerned about sort of the dollars and cents attached to this plan. i think they just are -- we're seeing a lot of enthusiasm, especially from young voters on the left who want this talked about and want this to be a central focal point in washington. it hasn't been until now when people say we need to talk about this.

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>> we need to be talking about this, but to pelosi's point, she didn't say she's behind it. she said i haven't seen the details yet. let's talk about kamala harris. she wants to focus on raising incomes for the working and middle class. she laid out a plan to give some families up to six grand in tax credits. walk me through what you think of this. >> look, on the whole, i actually think the idea of a universal income is not a bad idea. it's been -- >> they're stasrting it in stoc ton a week from now. >> charles murray was the first person to write an entire book on it. it's an intriguing idea. the whole question is how much does it cost? who gets it and what are the requirements for it? >> speaking of money, amy klobuchar within 48 hours, she raised over $1 million from online and grass roots

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supporters. that's a big number. for me, i'm talking about how upsetting it is that there's many much money going around. imagine if it went to the environment and our education system and roads and bridges. what do you make of this? if she can raise that much money in a day-and-a-half, does she have a fighting chance? >> it was a good start for her. she wants to appear tough. she did appear as tough braving in that snow storm and cold weather. she hung in there and i think impressed people in the same way she did during the kavanaugh hearings. i think she and harris got off to a very good start. is it sustainable? is it -- it's a long race. who knows what's going to happen with this? >> globe shklobuchar is the onl democratic candidate announce sod far that can beat donald trump. >> why? >> she has a midwestern appeal and is pragmatic and is not beholden to the party's extremes. she is exactly what donald trump

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fears the most which is someone coming from the heart of the country and speaking to the heart of the country, not to the coasts. >> she said i got grit. >> i disagree with brett. i think any person who gets the democratic nomination should beat donald trump in 2020. >> any person. is one bill de blasio? he's heading to new hampshire. >> i think it's contagious, the 2020 bug. de blasio seam seems to be a one man hype machine. we're not seeing a lot of support. in new york among voters who know him best, there was a poll out in late january. they were asked who they think would make the best president. mike bloomberg came in first. de blasio came in last. >> how many people were in it? >> there were five. >> mike, then it was i believe -- i can't remember if

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it was gillibrand, and then ocasio cortez, and then deblaze owe. >> rudy giuliani not no air time on that. coming up, former trump fixer, michael cohen is blasted after pulling out of testifying. his lawyer will be here to respond. no matter where you are in life or what your dreams entail, a cfp professional is trained, knowledgeable, and committed to financial planning in your best interest. find your certified financial planner™ professional at letsmakeaplan.org. the aarp auto insurance program from the hartford?

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you know how we like to end this show. there's always good news somewhere. we think good news ruhles. we learned that a dog had kidney failure. he took his companion on a bucket list trip across the country. the experience inspired neil to start live like po, it educates pet owners on how to care for dogs. the assistance of his power educator, aaron used his painting and sculptures to raise money for related charities. aaron painted this acrylic for an upcoming raffle to benefit the fund in new york city.

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visit lithe website to get more information. coming up now, more news with hallie jax sckson. >> how do you think your job would feel about the fact that you called it middle-aged? >> he has a pretty good life. >> this morning we're learning the man behind the art of the deal is probably going to sign the one in front of him, over phenomenon it's not exactly right for him. it seems to be fine for right now. the wall war is really just beginning. we'll explain why and get into our new reporting as congress gets ready to green light it all. starting votes today to avoid another shutdown friday at midnight. plus the special counsel may have found a smoking gun inside a smoke-filled room, literally. in a story that is around paul manafort. one of the